BBVA API Market
In a hyper-competitive environment with everything just a couple of clicks away, starting, maintaining or growing e-commerce sales is a big challenge for businesses. In this scenario, it is necessary to resort to strategies to improve online sales, such as making offers, increasing perceived value through sales strategies, or using technology that enhances the buying process, such as using APIs.
Product packaging is indispensable
Product packaging is a targeted sales strategy to enable customers to make quicker choices and avoid abandonment. Offering many options to the customer, especially if it is not possible to make a comparison between them, leads the customer to a state of ‘paralysis by analysis’ that prevents the purchase.
And when this is done, there is the possibility of ‘buyer’s remorse’, another phenomenon that increases as the number of alternatives offered increases, because the customer questions whether they bought the best option. Fewer purchasing options make it easier to make decisions.
Good packaging of products or services is clear, clean, allows comparison, helps the customer understand the different types of products or their scope, as well as the value of premium products. For example, the classic small, regular, and large packaging, with ascending prices, fulfills these principles.
People prefer to avoid losses because, psychologically, a loss is twice as valuable as a gain (loss aversion). This is why activating the sensation of possible loss in the user can be a mobilizing element toward the purchase decision. Many companies often launch exclusive or limited edition products or even limited-time offers:
Limited quantities, single runs, or “while stocks last” services are calls to purchase, especially from customers who value exclusivity. The collectibles industry makes use of these types of calls.
Discounts such as “VAT free day”, free shipping during the first week of customer registration, or discounts for acquiring new items once a purchase has been made are interesting strategies.
These mechanisms allow customers to perceive the product as something finite or scarce, which increases the product’s perceived value and, therefore, the purchase decision is triggered more agilely.
When we are offered something for free, the temptation to accept it is compelling. After all, what have we got to lose at zero cost? People love free stuff because the idea of getting something without having to pay for it can be rewarding.
Researchers argue that this is because free causes happiness, which affects decision-making, and eliminates the feeling of loss or risk in the decision. In this case, the following statement is made: “If it doesn’t cost me anything, I have nothing to lose”.
That is why many companies often design their sales strategies by offering some sample items or certain services for free, such as free shipping, when the total purchase amount exceeds a certain value.
Opinions matter. “Nine out of 10 consumers read between one and six reviews before moving forward with a transaction,” notes Patricia Matey, CEO of NoFakes. Data provided by Statista shows that 70% of online shoppers read between one and six reviews before making a final purchase decision, with 32% reading between four and six and 23% reading more than seven.
Because reviews help potential buyers understand and decide on purchases, asking customers to write a short review of their experience is a good idea. This is usually done through an email request, avoiding pressure on the customer.
Running promotions on key dates is a strategy widely used by e-commerce companies to encourage customer purchases and increase sales. Advantages include tapping into consumer interest and demand while reducing profit margin by increasing inventory expense or entering a segment with even more competition.
While it is true that this strategy to increase sales can help, it is imperative to accompany them with market research and marketing plans to estimate their cost/benefit ratio before launching them, answering questions such as: Will we have enough stock for the flood of purchases? Does the PVP support the unit cost for the business? Will the customer’s opinion of the company change?
All of these strategies to increase e-commerce sales can occur in isolation or as part of a unified plan, with more or less consistency. For example, every summer, the company offers a gift, offer, or limited product, generating precedents that are part of its identity.
Within this scenario, APIs are useful for automating, eliminating friction, increasing conversion, or making the purchasing process easier in an e-commerce. Each is a tool in its own right, although they can work together to bring more value to the company and to e-commerce.
Customers want to buy easily and without barriers, and any small steps they encounter will narrow the conversion funnel where potential consumers will be left behind. APIs can help overcome friction, as they are to online retailers as ramps or open doors are to offline retailers. As soon as redirects, registration stops, or unclear windows appear, the customer abandons the process.
There are more benefits to introducing APIs within an e-commerce site, including reaching more customers, providing better product information, enabling customization, facilitating support to company departments, improving the user experience, reducing obstacles to innovation, or automating some processes related to increasing online sales.
After all, an e-commerce site is a self-store in which the user carries out the process autonomously: you have to make it easy for them and make the purchasing process seamless. Financing included, such as including financing within the purchase process through APIs and ‘buy now, pay later’ propositions. This credit payment, also called BNPL Buy now, pay later, allows payments to be deferred and even split into several installments that the user is happy with.
It is possible to find a complete list of the available apps in the BBVA API_Market API library, of which we highlight some very interesting ones for e-commerce applications here:
These types of APIs or tools increase the customer’s Lifetime Value, due to the value they bring, simplify the sales process, eliminate obstacles in their way, and make buying in an e-commerce easier and securer.
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